Kesurokai

Japanese tea house construction

So, this is what the tea house looked like inside when it was finished:

 

It has an open area at the front with a hearth and kettle (the Japanese blacksmith made the hook for this and it is very beautiful), and a raised area at the back with tatami mats which were also made on-site and I will post more about them in the future. There is tracking for sliding doors front and back and I guess these will be added later along with the roof, which I think will be made of wooden shingles.

It was made in a similar way to the European building; each piece is cut to shape and each joint is tested individually before it is all finally put together, so the final construction happens amazingly quickly. Here's how it happened with a little additional explanation from the scale model that they used to guide their work. Firstly the base frame was constructed and the rear half boarded out:

Then the three main upright frames were put together; the one in the centre marked in red has a lovely carved frieze, shown below stacked on the ground with the other two. I will post more about the Japanese wood carver later.

The side panels had been made in advance; hand sawn planks nailed to cross-laths using beautiful nails made by the Japanese blacksmith, and they were slotted into rebates cut into the uprights as the main body of the tea house was put together. Here you can see the first upright frame in place and the first side panels being slotted in (In the model the wall closest to the camera has been left out so you can see inside!)

... and here is the final frame at the rear of the building being put into place:

Then the roof is built, starting with three cross-beams that tie the side panels in place. The Japanese are meticulous about keeping the site tidy and in the foreground of this picture you can see one of the carpenters with a lovely wooden rake used for clearing away the wood shavings:

Then the first tier of the roof with two beams front and back, and a frame to hold the central beams:

... and then the top tier of the roof, with a little persuasion(!):

Finally, there were various inside fittings to be done; the long bars that secured the side walls, held in place by wedges, and the fittings to hold the tatami mats and take sliding doors either side:

The completed tea house with Kesurokai organisers Hannes Schnelle and Amemiya san:

Back at home

The last two weeks have been a fantastic experience but it is also lovely to be home. The heat and humidity was very tiring ... in contrast it is around 12C and raining heavily here in the Peak District today! It feels a long time ago that I was sat on the tatami mats next to the worksite kitchen logging my video and photos:

Over the next few weeks as I start to process all the video and images I have I will continue blogging to gradually fill in the detail to show you the buildings in more detail and of some of the other things we saw and did.

Experiencing a little of Japan

The last week has been a complete whirl, but it was good to have the opportunity to see a little more of Japan than our construction site in the mountains! For the five days after completing the tea house and pavillion we did too many things to mention, but here's a little pictorial taster...

Visiting craftsmen:

Eating fantastic food (and drinking lots of beer):

Sleeping on the coach after staying up late eating and drinking! 

Visiting temples with wonderful trees:

In central Tokyo too:

On the subway:

Experiencing the city centre:

I must say a big thank you to Amemiya san, has family and friends, who looked after us so well whilst we were there.

Finished!

Yesterday we raised both buildings; firstly the Japanese tea house, then the European Pavilion. Our preparations had been good and both went up with amazing speed and few technical problems. Then we had the formal ceremonies for both buildings before finally having a big party to celebrate.

I will post more pictures and video when I can, but we are moving accommodation today and I don't know when I will next have internet access.

Construction has started

Both the Japanese and the European teams started to construct various parts of their buildings today. To start with each section goes together and is taken apart, adjusted and reconstructed several times until each joint is perfect. Then finally the frames are constructed.

Whilst they have been making good progress, there were worries about getting finished tomorrow so the head carpenters stayed on after the end of the day to do a little more work. It was very atmospheric in the forest after dark with so much insect noise and occasional fireworks as it is a day when Japanese people traditionally celebrate their ancestors (I think!)

So, here is the base for the tea house with, on top at the front one of three upright frames that form the main part of the roof:

and here is one side wall from the European pavillion which was the first to be pegged together:

The pegs were made several days ago and have been drying on a rack above the fire in the kitchen; they start slightly oversize and shrink as they dry. The timber frame is green (unseasoned) so it will shrink onto the pegs as it dries and form really tight joints.

The Japanese use wedges to hold their building together, but I assume the principle is the same, or maybe they just tap them further in as they dry ... I'll ask tomorrow. 

Yoshida Yasutaka - Japanese swordsmith

I managed to do a quick edit on some of yesterday's video. Just a quick taster but here are Manfred and Gunther, our two German blacksmiths, with our Japanese smith Yoshida, firstly in his special tea house where he showed us a sword following the traditional ceremony, then at his workshop.

Japanese swordsmith

Today I took a break from the building activities and went with the European smiths to visit the Japanese smith's workshop. He is a highly respected sword smith and it was a great honour to both be invited to his workshop and to be allowed to film.

Firstly we went to the special tea house he has behind his workshop to see one of his swords:

Then we went to his workshop where he gave us a demonstration on his forge and gave Manne and Gunther the opportunity to have a go too. Unlike European smiths he works seated, with his feet down in a pit, with his forge one side and power hammer the other. It seems a very efficient way to work and his overalls remain amazingly white!

It was unbelievably hot there; it is at a much lower altitude than our work site so outside the air temperature was very high and exceedingly humid. Added to that was the temperature of the forge and my camera was getting so hot I could hardly hold it. 

The video is rather special so it will have to wait for another time, probably until my return to England. Tomorrow it is most likely the Japanese building will be raised and on Sunday the European one - the sites are too close together to raise them both at once although they are both nearly ready I am told.

Completing the frames & the chouna (Japanese adze)

The timber frames of both buildings are really coming together now all the beams have been hewn and the joints are now being cut. Each piece is carefully marked out first; the Europeans are using a special laying-out floor for this purpose. It has been marked out using traditional daisy-wheel geometry, which is too complex to explain now, but I have it on video and might attempt an explanation of the basics once I get home!

The groups are still working one each others projects so there is a lovely mix of Japanese and European people and tools throughout the site. Some of the joints are amazingly complex and it must take quite some skill to cut them accurately.

Each joint will be tested by putting together each section of the frame on the laying-out floor, then fine adjustments will be made until the whole building has been put together and taken apart in sections many times. Then finally the whole frame will be put together ... at the current rate of work we expect that will be on Sunday for both buildings*.

My video for the day shows the difference between European and Japanese adzes. The European version has become less popular on site since the carpenters have found the Japanese ones (chouna) work superbly well. Here you can see both in action and our host Amemiya san showing one of the European carpenters how to use the chouna:

*Apologies for a lack of photos of the Japanese site. We have been having very heavy rain so large areas of the site have blue tarpaulin covers which make photography impossible. We were warned about the possibility of a typhoon this afternoon and if that had happened we would have had to remove all the tarpaulins, tie everything down and leave the site. Thankfully it did not develop and we could work on!

Japanese and European saws

Many of the timbers are sawn into two down their length and the saws used by the Japanese and European carpenters for the large pieces are radically different. The Europeans use a pit saw, which has a man at each end and in a traditional timber yard would have been used over a pit, hence the name. On site the log is raised above the ground instead, hence the large beam being raised above the ground before hewing.

The Japanese carpenter pictured spent two days leaning to use this saw and became very proficient. At the end of the day he was given it as a gift and was very moved but clearly very pleased with it. In return he gave Jochen who taught him the Japanese equivalent, a Miebiki Oga. This one here is shown being used by our host Amemiya san:

Behind him you can see Erik with a traditional German axe that is used for finishing the beams one they have been hewn. Shortly after this Eric taught Amemiya san how to hew in the traditional European style and it was wonderful to watch the two highly skilled craftsmen together. 

No video tonight, our hosts had prepared a special meal on our return which took a while to eat and now we have a table football competition running which I will film and maybe put on tomorrow's blog. Instead here is a final picture of the beautiful Japanese saws.

A Japanese axe in the hands of a master craftsman

Today was our first day where we shared work properly with half the Japanese carpenters coming to work on the European pavillion. It was wonderful to watch as they worked out how to communicate with each other through the common language of carpentry with a smattering of English! It was also wonderful to see them teaching each other to use their favourite tools and different techniques. 

Highlight of the day was our host, hewing master Amemiya san hewing the other side of the massive beam that Robin and Hannes were working on in yesterday's video. He also started by singing his wonderful mountain song:

We have been very much enjoying the Japanese food and, whilst I have been finding chopsticks challenging, my dexterity is coming along brilliantly. I am not always sure what I am eating and sometimes the fish / shellfish is rather challenging, but there is not much I can't manage. Here's today's lunch, an assortment of fish and vegetables which are served with plain rice.

Another pleasure are the huge peaches which they slice and fetch around as a refreshing afternoon snack for us. It is quite hot and humid here and they are kept cool under running water which is diverted from a nearby stream into the kitchen area next to the forge. They looked a perfect picture under the bamboo guttering in a wooden bucket: